§12892 Planning Grants

Summary

The Secretary can award planning grants to help people and groups design homeownership programs. Each grant can be up to $200,000, unless the Secretary allows a bigger amount for good reason. Grant money can pay for things like finding eligible properties, training and technical help, feasibility studies, lead-paint inspections, basic architectural and engineering work, homebuyer counseling, planning for job training and economic self-sufficiency, security plans, and preparing an application for a later implementation grant. To get a grant, an applicant must file the form and follow the rules the Secretary sets. At a minimum the application must say what activities will be done, give a schedule, list staff and the amount requested, describe the applicant and its qualifications, identify likely properties and the likely buyers (including family size and income), include a certification from the public official who submits the local housing strategy that the work fits the approved housing plan (or, during the first 12 months after November 28, 1990, a different existing plan the Secretary allows), and certify compliance with the Fair Housing Act, title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Age Discrimination Act of 1975 and a promise to affirmatively further fair housing. The Secretary will run a national competition and pick winners using rules that look at the applicant’s abilities, interest, the program’s promise and property suitability, geographic balance, and other appropriate factors.